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Soundings
RPPS ETHICAL QUESTION
(found poem)
Jordanian King Abdullah II is the sanest and soundest gentlemanly voice in
the Muddled East, hi-lighting the urgent, critical need to resolve the
plight of disaffected Palestinians fairly and compassionately as an
imperative first step in quieting the surge of violence permeating the
troubled region. By unclenching bullyrag fists and extending more hopeful,
even-handed universal justice, the for too long detoured dead end impasse
can and must be jump-started, reopening the bumpy road to respectfully
envisioned, dignified Peace. Pax vobiscum.
Dr. Charles Frederickson
Geoff Jackson
8. Cool Cat
Kitty with needle teeth
Cheers,
Geoff Jackson: Eden
18. Shangri-la
Singing the seven seas
Explosion of light
Why do so many Americans poo-poo a fence at the Mexican border yet lock themselves behind their doors with bolts and chains and try to keep everyone in their neighborhoods out? They protect their homes but not their country.
Don`t they realize that America is their home? That border crossers are like burglars who sneak in at night, rob us of our social services and replace our discreet furniture with lower standards and ill-educated, awkward, foreign customs.
After all, it is not the Mexican elite who is sneaking through their windows wearing sandals, sombreros and packing tacos snacks.
We have two types of criminals to protect ourselves from at our borders. One is the suicidal terrorist who blames America for its inefficiencies and thinks that killing innocent civilians is a statement about our weakness rather than their moronic psychoses.
The other is the untutored, uneducated south-of-the-border, illiterates who want to spread their lack of manners, social graces and blaring salsa music. They wear baggy pants and cut off t-shirts, shout on the trains and picnic on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
And their liberal friends applaud the noise and the dirt while they wear Che shirts, celebrate Stalinist communism and go home to their mansions, kick their servants and bolt their doors.
Awesome David Lawrence
Dr Charles Fredrickson: A RAWARAWARAWAR
Whose country is it anyway
Awesome David Lawrence : ILLOGICAL LIBERALS
I am walking up Madison Avenue with my wife, Lauren, and I tell her that I saw Don Chaedle on television talking about his book on Darfur, "Not On Our Watch."
"I can`t see why left-leaning, liberal Democrats like Chaedle and Clooney are always telling Bush it`s his responsibility to straighten out Darfur when it`s a Moslem affair," I say to Lauren. "They should be telling Arabs and Moslems to police their own killers."
"It`s funny," she says. "The libs say America is an abusive country, a terrorist country, an aggressor only interested in its own aggrandizement. If they think this is so�then why do they ask America to save all the Christians being slaughtered by Muslims in Darfur? Why do they ask America to do good for someone else?"
"That`s a great question," I say. "You`re right. The libs curse out terrorist America and then go to America to stop the real terrorists. It`s a contradiction."
Lauren says, "In their hearts they must secretly know that America really is a great, benevolent, caring, generous country or they would not ask her for favors."
"Big Mama USA. They keep sucking on her like children but never thank her for the milk," I reply.
"The Liberals never think things through," Lauren says. "They are defeatists. They think we lost the war in Iraq. So as defeatists, why do they think we can save Darfur?"
"You tell me," I say.
"No realization and not thinking things through is a characteristic of the Liberal mindset," she says.
We stop at Guicci and look in the window. A lot of smart tacky clothes. Soon to be seen on the backs of Barbara Steisand, Susan Sarandon, Nancy Pelosi, George Clooney, et. al. Why do the rich Democrats identify with the poor. They don`t even leave the underprivileged their suffering. They steal it and wear it proudly like haute couture.
10. Summer Freedom
Summer songs of rippling grasses |
Andy Martin Speaks REPUBLICAN OPPONENT ATTACKS U. S. SENATOR DICK DURBIN FOR "PROFESSIONAL INCOMPETENCE" IN SEEKING TO LIMIT PROFESSIONAL IMMIGRATION DURBIN ACCUSED OF BEING "ANTI-BUSINESS" (CHICAGO)(June 3, 2007) Chicago-based Internet journalist, broadcaster, media critic and U. S. Senate candidate Andy Martin will hold a toll-free telephone news conference Monday, June 4 to attack U. S. Senator Dick Durbin for "professional incompetence" in seeking to hamper the immigration of highly educated professional employees into the United States. Journalists are free to call in from Illinois and around the United States. "I realize that the current immigration debate is very emotional and very charged," Martin will state, "But the one area that has avoided controversy is the need for the U. S, economy to continue to import increasing numbers of highly educated professional employees with engineering, scientific and technical degrees-- "Until Dick Durbin woke up last Friday and said he wants to make it more difficult for American businesses to employ these workers. "What is Durbin smoking and who is buying his lunch? The man is professionally incompetent. "Durbin wants to make himself, and by implication the State of Illinois, an anti-immigrant, anti-business bastion. I say no. "California, which is certainly the high-tech capital of America, recently announced that the state was going to be tens of thousands of employees short in the areas of scientific and technical expertise. Our economy is growing. We need PhD's, engineers, and scientists. We are not producing enough PhD's to grow. We need more. Let's get some of them from overseas. It's good business to do so. "Silicon Valley was largely created by immigrants. The American economy benefits immeasurably from scientific and technical immigration. "Why should Illinois, which has lagged in technology employment, but which is trying to enter the high-tech leader board, hamstring the immigration of highly educated employees? It makes no sense. Between Senator Durbin and Governor Blagojevich, Illinois getting the well-deserved and completely destructive reputation of being as anti-business as West Virginia. Maybe worse than West Virginia. "Illinois needs growth in our economy. We need highly educated, highly skilled scientific and technical workers�because they create new jobs in research and ultimately in manufacturing and services. "It's obvious: Dick Durbin hates America's businesses. And Dick Durbin is also against American labor, because to employ more workers, more laborers, we need more scientific and technical leaders to staff our laboratories and technical research teams. "Every year business is caught short when visas for technical staff quickly run out. Durbin wants to make it worse, harder, more petty and delayed. "Whatever happens in the area of 'general' immigration, and I have not announced my views on that topic, I stand shoulder to shoulder with America's research universities (e.g. University of Illinois, University of Chicago) and America's technical and scientific businesses in seeking more and more educated workers from abroad. These immigrants create immense value for every American. "The U.S. is no longer an island. New ideas are coming from China, India and elsewhere. We need to be able to attract these young scientific leaders to the United States. "Whose side is Durbin on? Certainly not on the side of growing Illinois' economy. Or America's. Durbin claims to be 'safeguarding' Illinois' workers. In reality he is endangering and diminishing our economy. Durbin is a disgrace to the Democratic Party, and a disgrace to Illinois," Martin will charge. Martin is the only actively campaigning Republican candidate to oppose Durbin in 2008. Andy Martin
Dr Kelley White: Fall Term October
smoke from the trainyard, rain If a country has unlimited resources and any individual or groups of individuals respect the culture and core values of that country, then these individuals should be allowed to seek legal refuge and residence in that country. However, if resources are limited or the individuals do not value the culture of the country, then it is a disservice to citizens of that country to allow said people to immigrate. As it stands now in the United States, resources are limited. Population has increased from 200 million to 300 million in the last fourty years, 12-18 million of that increase due to illegal immigrants. At the same time, 40-70 million good-paying jobs have been shipped out of the country. If an increase in population means diminished opportunities for either citizens or immigrants or for both, then immigation should be restricted. If prospective immigrants due not value the laws, customs, and values of a country, they will end up creating a divisive force and influence. While America is an amlagam of peoples and beliefs, the core values of democracy and religious tolerance must be held by all who wish to be a part of the country and to help it flourish. One example of such division is Miami, Fl. Since it has become an Hispanic community, it wishes to make Spanish its official language. Such a move isolates the community, separates it from mainstream America. If its residents wished to move to another part of the country, how would they communicate? No, immigration must be resricted. The focus becomes how to fairly divide up a smaller and smaller pie, the apple pie of America. If one group is favored over another, resentment grows. And one core American value is supposed to be equal teatment of all. We need to look at how many people we can support and also at those who will support America. Edward Michael O'Durr Supranowicz Hugh A Jones: Catwalk
CAT WALK
Dr Charles Fredrick has criticised the US for refusing to take in refugees. Recently foreign doctors residing in colonial splendor on Long Island were found keeping domestic servants in a state of slavery. Has the deluge of immigrants from foreign lands brought them to a higher state of civilisation or has it changed our basic values for the worse? This is the most major form of hypicrosy. The reason I feel strongly about this issue is because after I was a victim on a natural disaster in my own country I was called a refugee. Now foreign doctors are hiding away more foreigners and using them as servant labor. Maybe giving them a few scraps of food here or there but treating them like animals is pathetic and cruel. Why should we continue to push idiology forth into foreign lands when we arent taking good enough care in our home land. Our basic values in American Society from the 50's to some degree was warped but the main aspect that I find that we have lost was the basic American family and the basic needs that we as humans need to have to survive. Take care of our home (America and our physical home/family) and help our community. Housing servants takes away from the liberties we try to cling to (or most try to). I feel that US should let go of allowing refugees into the country until we can handle what problems we are struggling with in this country now before we lose all basic reasoning to the values that once held us together as a Nation.
Allie Geoff Jackson: Dreamscape 12. Dream Time
The wind whispers Liberte, egalite and fraternite The cries of the French Revolution echo down to today and swept aside the culture of aristocracy and politesse, where a footman should not knock upon a door but merely scratch with his finger nail as a sign that an inferior wanted to come in and where if you spat you should cover it up with your right foot and not your left. Yes, the world revolves and still evolves. Equality, sometimes written as �egalitarianism` as being longer and therefore more worthy of note, is at the heart of democracy. In my view, equal chances do not mean the "same". Here in Denmark all children go to roughly the same schools and go to the �same` classes so they can learn the same in the same way. In my view, that is why not less than 25% of Danish children today do not even learn to read and write. A dogmatic application of the principle of the "same" merely leads to inequality. The Greeks were smart enough to figure this one out, too. In their mythology, they told of a bandit called Procrustes, who put his hostages on the "bed of Procrustes". If they were too long, he chopped a foot off and if they were too short, he racked them to the right length. Everyone got treated the same and few fitted. And so could the future of our society be, if people wanted �same-ness` instead of equality. Fraternite is also important. Today, it also means sororite. In America`s case, it means a pluralistic society in which no group aggregates all power to itself. There are Poles, Irish, Jews, Afro-Americans, new political refugees etc. Also, Hispanics and Moslems. It is a moot point as to whether there will be more place for these latter on account that a big influx would badly upset the present plurality and crash the lot. �Brotherhood`, yes � but liberal, woolly thinking, without principles and unprincipled, shortsighted and stringing the heart along, going ahead without a head � No! However, America, the refuge of oppressed minorities, has to continue to be aware of minority rights without allowing a minority to take over. Not a patrician minority of Texan oil barons, nor a feminist minority, even if they have many good points, nor any minority should hi-jack the lot and jeopardize the Land of the Free. Liberte is also overrated. There are developments in "cerebral advertising", whereby, by means of introducing electrodes into the brain, you can change the subject from drinking Coca Cola to Pensa Cola, or anything else. You can also change him/her from right-wing Republican to left-wing Democrat. To afford such liberty to libertine politicians would take away all our freedom. �Spin doctors` are also a new threat to our liberty of choice. As an Englishman, I believe "The King must not listen to evil advisors" but to Parliament freely elected and open to public scrutiny. Therefore, these spin doctors should be open to scrutiny and not stuck away in the corridors of power, nefariously doctoring public opinion and spinning the wheel of fortune for politicians. Liberte, egalit�and fraternite, - principles closer to us than Pericles and the Pnyx. The Demos or People cannot rule without them. Now, a part of our great history, they must be fought for and re-interpreted by every generation. They are our Paean or song to Great Heroes. A battle cry ringing down to today.
Geoff Jackson.
Bosacker: DIFFERING GODS for Thomas William Fox, Quaker martyr Does Allah see Bin Ladin in his mirror, distorted with hate, a demon to fear. Or does Allah hide his head in shame, cursed by atrocities done in his name. If He is the God that Jihads inspire I'd fear the Heaven, Muslims acquire. If mirrors can really show and tell, my chosen God is Christ-like as well. A man defines his character most when he ascribes his heavenly host. When I might meet my God and maker, He will welcome this meek Quaker. Andy Martin: "Pro-Israel Republicans" elect Democrats June 3, 2007 Dear Republican leader: On May 21st I sent you a preliminary response to a smear campaign being waged against me by self-styled "Jewish Republicans" Michael Cohen and Paul Miller who want you to support Steve Sauerberg, my opponent. I promised some follow-up comments and I am pleased to provide them at this time. First, let us be clear who "Pro-Israel Republicans" really are. They want to elect liberal Democrats. Paul Findley was a reliable conservative Republican congressman from downstate Illinois who had the temerity to question our Middle East policies a quarter century ago. He was targeted for destruction and defeat. Findley was replaced by�Dick Durbin. Pro-Israel Republicans launched the career of Dick Durbin. Feeling flush, this same coterie of "Pro-Israel Republicans" then defeated an incumbent Republican senator, Senator Charles Percy, and replaced him with a liberal Democrat, Paul Simon. It wasn't long ago that "Pro-Israel Republicans" were calling President George H. W. Bush an "anti-Semite" because he sought to block illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian lands. I could go on but you get the point. When they ask you to put Israel first the Republican Party always comes in second. I have been committed to fair and balanced Middle East peace. Treating Palestinians like vanquished hostages to Israel will never serve American foreign policy interests and will never bring peace to the region. There is a great deal of confusion and disinformation about Palestinians. Surprisingly, some of the fairest coverage I have seen is found in the Chicago Tribune. I hope the Tribune's fair reporting will not become less balanced now that a "supporter of Israel" claims to have purchased the Tribune Company. Second, I am committed to fairness and equality in the Middle East. As a young boy in the 1950's I grew up being schooled in the Holocaust by a refugee from Nazi Germany. He was a scholar whose books were burned, and who got out in time. He was a family friend. It is precisely because of the horrors of Nazi Germany that I have come to embrace human rights for everyone, those with whom we agree and those with whom we disagree. I have led a life unhesitatingly committed to civil rights and fighting bigotry. That`s the kind of a senator I would be. The first African-American federal judge in Chicago once stated he respected me as a good man. A copy of his federal court transcript is available on request. Third, my opponents always refer to a piece of gutter journalism that appeared last year in the Chicago Tribune. It was a smear job orchestrated by Rick Pearson. To paraphrase Capital One ads, I wonder "What's in Rick Pearson's wallet?" Pearson tried to patch together lies, half-truths and distortions to smear me. I must be pretty important if the Tribune organized a three-man smear squad to investigate me. Is there any truth to the Tribune's lies? Not really. Pearson refers to a series of lawsuits in the 1980's. He must be pretty desperate if he has to reach back 25 years to attack me, wouldn't you say? In the course of a lawsuit, claims are made that do not necessarily represent the views of the pleader or the party on whose behalf a pleading is submitted. Otherwise, no one could make legal arguments. In 1983 I was the victim of bankruptcy shysters. The bankruptcy courts are notorious dens of fraud and corruption. I was dragged there against my will, as punishment for fighting corruption in Illinois. I made the claim that I was the victim of religious discrimination by Jewish attorneys. That was a painful claim for me to make. But it was legally correct. The U. S. Supreme Court subsequently adopted my civil rights theory, see Shaare Tefila v. Cobb, 481 U. S. 2019 (1987). Making a claim that is later supported by the U. S. Supreme Court hardly qualifies as "anti-Semitic." It marks me as a legal scholar and nothing more. A claim has also been made that I somehow ran a vicious campaign for office. That is a lie. I have repeatedly testified under oath that I had no connection with any such campaign. My testimony is a matter of public record. But my adversaries are not concerned with the truth; they are only concerned with spreading their smears and lies. Well, as President Reagan might have said, "Why do they hate us?" In 2000 I produced the Andy Martin Peace Plan for the Middle East. Unbeknownst to me, parts of it were incorporated in President Clinton's peace offers. Today the Bush Administration is moving in the direction of my proposal. I am attacked because I am an apostle of peace, not hate; under my plan Israel would have to withdraw to the 1967 armistice lines and recognize the State of Palestine. In 2008, the Middle East and Iraq are going to be at the heart of the election. I am the only acknowledged expert who has been in the Middle East and who can make credible attacks on Durbin. Rick Pearson of the Chicago Tribune can publish all the lies he wants, and he can ignite all the frenzied hate he wants, but the truth will win out. Pearson has never met me, has never interviewed me and has never provided any opportunity for a discussion of his "issues." He was on a smear mission for his sponsors. I wonder who was supporting him. How could Pearson hate me so vehemently when he had never met me? Ask him. Finally, two closing points. I am not popular in the legal system. Is there a reason? You betcha. First, as a young law student at the University of Illinois I joined in researching the law that led to the ouster of two crooked Illinois Supreme Court justices (Klingbiel & Solfisburg). They were removed from the court. Even before I picked up my Juris Doctor diploma I was warned crooked judges and lawyers were waiting to retaliate. And they did. The Illinois Supreme Court retaliated by trying to suggest I was unstable�all because an Army psychologist was disgusted by the corruption in Illinois politics. I hold an Honorable Discharge from the U. S. Air Force Reserves. I was in Viet Nam three (3) times. But the crooked associates of Klingbiel and Solfisburg tried to draft me illegally, to silence my corruption exposures. (I was pursuing more crooked judges on the court at the time, Democrats.) The psychologist tried to stop that abuse by declaring me "unfit" to serve, merely as a ploy to block the Illinois Supreme Court. He was disgusted by crooked justice in Illinois, and you should be too. By the way, if you would like a copy of my Honorable Discharge just ask and it will be faxed to you. Do Steve Sauerberg, or Mill-+er and Cohen and Pearson, have honorable discharges? Or Dick Durbin? Ask them. Second, I have devoted my life to fighting corruption in the courts, not being a part of corruption. Most lawyers will tell you privately that a little corruption and a little back-room dealing are the emollients that make "justice" function. I prefer to rely on the Constitution, on Due Process, and on open and honest government. In the 1970's I used the racketeering laws against the Illinois Democratic Party, and helped launch a "Civil RICO" revolution. I was a point man in the efforts that led to Operation Greylord, where approximately eighty (80) crooked Chicago judges and lawyers were convicted and imprisoned. You bet there is a reason they don't like me in the courts. I force them to obey the law. Enough said. I run a very open campaign, and I have led an open life. The Tribune tried and tried to find dirt and found nothing. So Rick Pearson invented the muck he published. I am running a non-sectarian campaign. All are welcome to support me. But I am not beholden to any religion, to any ideology or to any orthodoxy except the United States Constitution. Steve Sauerberg has every right to run for senator. But he is apparently not running on his own merits; he is running as a "Stop Andy" candidate. In other words, the "Pro-Israel Republicans" are at it again, trying to reelect a liberal Democrat. I think you should tell Sauerberg, Pearson, Cohen and Miller to stop their lies and face the truth. America needs Andy Martin, not Dick Durbin, in the U. S. Senate. If I am fortunate enough to defeat Durbin, and beating him will be an extraordinarily difficult task, I will take an oath to support and defend the U. S. Constitution and nothing else. Unlike Mr. Durbin, I will put Illinois first, not the interests of my contributors and lobbyists. In reality, Sauerberg, Cohen, Miller and Pearson are fronting for the Durbin campaign; Durbin is their man. As for me, I am the last Republican Durbin wants to face. I will attack Durbin's sordid record as no other Republican can. And now you know the rest of the story. The real story. Respectfully yours, ANDY MARTIN (Awesome David Lawrence, retired Prize Fighter and author of Born Again American, replied Dear Fellow Republican: In the first line of Andy Martin`s letter he refers to "Jewish Republicans." The tone is typical. He does not like Jews. He then specifies his real enemies, the "Pro-Israel Republicans" who "want to elect liberal Democrats." Huh? What? I don`t know Illinois politics but I do know that when Andy focuses on a small group like the "Pro-Israel Republicans" his focus must be skewed by some underlying prejudice. Andy accuses "Pro-Israel Republicans" of considering Bush-1 an anti-Semite because he wanted to "block illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian lands." His use of "stolen" is suspect. There are arguments for and against those lands being Israeli. Andy goes on to say, "under my plan Israel would have to withdraw to the 1967 armistice lines and recognize the State of Palestine." He says this as if it is the only fair alternative. He should read Alan Dershowitz, who says in "The Case for Israel," that the Six-Day War is "the first war in history which has ended with the victors suing for peace and the vanquished calling for unconditional surrender." He points out that on June 19, 1967, Israel, following UN resolution 242, offering to give up land for peace but Egypt and Syria turned them down. Arab nations have always been turning down Israeli peace overtures, choosing instead to get paid to blow up their own children. After blaming all the Middle Eastern disasters on the Jews, Andy does protest too much, saying, "I have been committed to fair and balanced Middle East peace." He goes on to say, "Treating Palestinians like vanquished hostages to Israel will never serve American foreign policy interests�." Tell me, how do you explain Andy`s chummy-chum-chum camaraderie with the Palestinians. Andy`s obviously an educated man with western customs. If he gave the Jews half a chance, he might even get along with the Jews who have similar educational backgrounds. Instead he aligns himself with the Palestinians�generally uneducated, theocentric, misogynistic, poor, violent people who are anti-Judeo Christian and pro Moslem. How many Palestinians have won Nobel Prizes? For that fact, how many Moslems? Is Andy so Jew hating that he`d rather identify with a culture that should be anathema to him rather than to recognize his educational and cultural similarities of the Jews. Andy goes on to call himself the victim of bankruptcy shysters. It is a typical anti-Semetic trope to accuse his enemies in their own language�shysters. The Europeans accuse victims of being their own murderers; they consider Israelis Nazis. When Andy complains about being considered "unstable" by the Illinois Supreme Court who cited an Army psychologist, he subtlety reveals himself. He does not seem very stable to me either. His anti-Semitism is throwing him off balance. Hey, I`m a little askew also. So are a lot of bright men. But at least I know my weaknesses. I don`t parade prejudice as political format. Awesome David Lawrence
Geoff Jackson: Sands of Time 7. The Sandman Where the Sandman Casts gray light Across your eyes And shadows dance the sky purple There In distant mountains I will wait for you. |
ANDY MARTIN:
THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION`S BAY OF PIGS
GAZA: PART ONE (A Three-Part Series) (CHICAGO)(June 16, 2007) As the impact of the chaos in Gaza sinks in, it is time to remember some painful truths. First, Hamas was originally encouraged to develop two decades ago, by Israel. Israeli security services falsely believed that empowering Islamic organizations would undermine the secular Palestinian national movement. Finally, 20 years later, the security services have been vindicated. Hamas has removed the remnants of Yasser Arafat`s movement from Gaza. Unfortunately, Israel will be the big loser in this week`s chaotic developments. Second, those of us who are independent experts in Middle East matters advocated a welcome by the United States to Hamas` democratic victory in fair and open elections. Tragically, President Bush and his administration marched in lockstep with the self-destructive policies of the Israeli regime, and we are now reaping the bitter fruit. I wrote a column entitled "Marhaba Hamas," or "Welcome Hamas," not because I was a supporter of Hamas but because only democratic politics can gradually extinguish the violent tribal conflicts which have been engendered by 40 years of Israeli occupation and Palestinian powerlessness. President Bush parroted the Israeli-junta line, that Hamas should be quarantined. Wrong. Big mistake. Folly. That quarantine has now strengthened and spread the virus. The consequences will be chaos. Israelis and American supporters of Israel like to brand critics of our Middle East policy "anti-Semitic." But we are not anti-Semitic at all. We are just more impartial and emotionally uninvolved in the passions of the parties, and we offer long-term solutions, not petty political proposals. (See Gaza Part Three for an Open Letter to American Jewish Supporters of Israel). Even before the guns were falling silent in Gaza this weekend the Israeli political and military structure was calculating how to profit from the misery of their neighbors. Once again, I caution the Israelis: all of your elaborate schemes over the past four decades have exploded in your faces, and in our American faces. Please, please try to take the side of history, and not petty political squabbling in the Knesset. Indeed, even as a subdued 40th "anniversary" of the illegal seizure and occupation of Gaza and the West Bank was soberly being reflected upon in Israel (not celebrated), the fires were burning in Gaza and the pressure was building for this week`s explosive developments. Unfortunately, if President Bush continues to allow Israelis to dictate American policy in Palestine, the result will be growing regional conflagration. Ultimately, Israel will be consumed by the very fires which Israelis deliberately and repeatedly set. The arsonists will eventually be consumed by their own acts of arson. We come to today`s headline: "President Bush`s Bay of Pigs." You might ask how I connect our policy involving Cuba with our policy involving Palestine. Sadly, they have run on parallel tracks. The Bay of Pigs is remembered because American intelligence services prepared an invasion plan for Cuba, and then President Kennedy failed to devote adequate resources to the project. The venture collapsed embarrassingly on the beaches of Cuba. Since the death of Arafat, which Israelis had always promised would herald a new day�the Israelis always making such promises and always yanking them away like a magician pulling a handkerchief over a rabbit at a county fair�the U. s. has had a Palestinian structure which it could utilize to empower Palestinians for peace. We did nothing. Instead, the U. S. has done everything it can to encourage civil war in Palestine. The bill is only party coming due. And future installments of this liability will come with higher and higher risks. And, finally, the Bay of Pigs in Palestine. At some point maybe the Israelis, or maybe some American, or someone whose identify we can`t yet identify, realized the obvious: If Gaza fell, the West Bank will eventually fall, and if the West Bank fell Israel would eventually fall as well. So we started our Bay-of-Pigs involvement of sending weapons to one side in the civil war. But not enough weapons for "our side" to win. Just enough weapons so that we would be blamed for the loss. Great move. Bay of Pigs all over again. Too little will, too late. Israelis have always operated on the delusional band width where they believed they could float above the tragic conditions they inflicted on Palestinians. Israelis have schemed for sixty years to expand their empire, and to continuously swallow bits and pieces of Palestine. Ehud Olmert is coming to Washington this weekend with his latest scheme: to "separate" Palestine into two cantons, to allow Gaza to become a free fire zone for the Israeli military and to allow Israel to swallow more of the West Bank. Why does Olmert always remind me of a mindless Nazi Gauleiter? Reflecting on their own self-induced delusion and mindless creation of misery among their neighbors, Israelis secretly and not so secretly think they can profit from the civil war they have created, split Palestine in two, destroy Gaza, and conquer the West Bank, apartment block by apartment block. Unfortunately, Israeli policy is madness. Indeed, between Washington and Tel Aviv there is madness to excess. Washington egged on the Israelis to conduct terror attacks on Lebanon last year and young Israelis senselessly died for the greater glory of American policy. Now Israeli wants a blank check to commit new atrocities against Gaza. If President Bush endorses Olmert`s insane plans, more innocents will perish, including Americans, before the entire region is consumed. As the battles in Gaza recently grew, Olmert threatened "consequences" from the temporary success of his policy to foment civil war. Indeed there will. Today, Egypt is endangered. If Egypt falls, Israel will not survive. Like all madmen, the Israeli politicians who lead that regime always believe the laws of nature and the laws of gravity do not apply to them. Hizballah taught them that those laws do apply. If Olmert is allowed to begin his campaign of planned atrocities against Gaza, Egypt will be the next casualty. Egypt may not fall all at once, but the Mubarek regime is creaky, and any spark could trigger a revolution in Cairo. So what should U. S. policy be? First, admit we goofed. We were too little too late to aid Abu Mazen, because we allowed the Israelis to diminish and discredit him since he became Palestinian leader. The Israeli ruling political structure is no more prepared for peace with Palestinians than the Palestinian extremists are prepared for peace with Israel. Ordinary Israelis, and ordinary Palestinians, want peace. But their leaders continue to blatantly betray them. And we betrayed the two peoples as well. After admitting we sent too little, too late, and triggered the Bay of Pigs takeover of Gaza by Hamas, we should embrace Hamas, and send aid. Load up the planes and land in Gaza with food, medical supplies, field hospitals and every from of assistance we routinely devote to natural disasters around the world. My policy recommendation today is the same as it was after the 2006 election. Engage, don't enrage. Only engagement can succeed the long run. In the light of last week`s developments, my recommendation is riskier than it was in 2006. Now we risk rewarding Hamas. But our own foolishness should not continue to blind us to good long-range policy. Unlike the Israeli politicians who glory in all of their political infighting, American men and women are dying for our failed polices in the Middle East. The failures in Gaza and the coming failures in the West Bank will demolish what remains of American influence. We must not let Gaza become a killing field for the Israeli military, and we must not let the West Bank continue to be colonized by Israeli expansionists. We must put America first. Sixteen years ago the first President Bush was called an anti-Semite for seeking to prevent the theft of Palestinian lands in the West Bank for "settlements," which are not "settlements" at all but organized thefts of occupied land in violation of international law. The second President Bush opened the flood gates to theft of land, and to encouraging Palestinian to fight Palestinian. I repeat: engagement is the only policy that can bring benefits for the U. S. in the long run. Ehud Olmert learned nothing in Lebanon last year, and engagement is the last option he wants to pursue. Expansion and annexation and atrocities are on his menu for his coming meeting with President Bush. Saturday I will be holding news conference in Chicago to outline a way through this dangerous period. President Bush and I have not agreed on policy matters since he was a candidate eight years ago. Personally, I like the man. But politically, Bush has been a slow death for the Republican Party, and he will bring more senseless and needless death on the American people if he allows Ehud Olmert`s visit to Washington this week to permit new Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people. Finally, you can label me what you want. But I speak as a friend of the Palestinian people, and the Israeli people. These two peoples want peace. And they deserve better than the leadership they have received for the past sixty years. It is time for an American president to become a leader again, and not to be a handmaiden to the malignant agendas of Ehud Olmert and his cabinet. Only an anti-Semite could be happy at the developments this past week. Because slowly, but inexorably, incompetent Olmert and his supporters are leading Israel down the path to destruction. I prefer to stand apart, to sound the alarm, and to state the unpleasant and unpalatable truths to both sides. That is why I consider myself a true friend of both Israel and Palestine. President Bush, will you join me? ANDY MARTIN
Awesome David Lawrence once again replied: GAZA Last year a friend of mine stood in the center of a ring at Gleason`s Gym and said, "David, David. Have you heard the good news? Israel has pulled out of Gaza." "We`ll see," I said. She gave me a scornful look. She was from the Netherlands. She had been in the Peace Corp. She represented everything that was supposed to be Democratic and good. She stood in the face of the military-industrial complexes of Israel and the United States and spoke up for the poor Palestinians. She was a very good human being. She loved the downtrodden. She patted herself on the back. And I? I was a capitalist pig who sympathized with Israel`s retaliatory killings of terrorists. I almost felt guilty. I felt the contagion of my friend`s scorn and wondered how I could be so cruel as to not celebrate the release of Gaza from the cruel Israeli occupiers? Yes, I was almost swept in by her softhearted treason. I was almost fooled into thinking that the suicide-bombing, ill-educated, fundamentalist Palestinians were sweet, gentle people who merely wanted to peacefully love one another and rid themselves of the militaristic Israelis. It didn`t take long to see that her putative humanistic position was wrong. The next day the terrorists in Gaza started shooting rockets at Israel. Instead of Hamas thanking them for their withdrawal, they attacked them. Instead of celebrating Israelis recognition of their undeserved independence, they shot at them. Instead of developing relations with Israel and encouraging brotherhood in return for their giving them their land, they tried to kill them. A year later Gaza has moved from trying to hurt the Israelis to hurting themselves. Homicidal and suicidal people share a desire to kill, no matter whom. Civil war is as good as foreign wars when all people are your enemy. Gaza has become an internecine war zone. And their fight is not against Israel. It is against each other. Hamas and Fatah are killing each other. These are the same people who cried that the Jews were terrorizing them. Didn`t they scream if only they got rid of the Jews, everything would be fine and dandy? Then they got rid of the Jews. And it`s not so fine. And they kill each other. What credibility do they have in their complaints about the occupying Jews when the Jews leave them to their own devices and they kill each other? I think of my friend in the ring who celebrated the removal of the Jews from Gaza. I feel like asking her about the Palestinian failure in Gaza. But I don`t. You can`t change liberals. They think they have their atheist God on their side. They think they are the generous ones who are trying to rid lands of vicious occupiers and escalate the Third World into beneficent leaders. They don`t see their appeasement of barbarism is setting civilization back. They congratulate themselves on their high ideals while they undercut the indigenous moral fabric of the world. Awesome David Lawrence
Geoff Jackson : ASEA 17. All at Sea
Brain awash jd collins The Lion of Judea a review of "Are These My Lions?" by Daniel Levenson: Literary Comment Press, pp. 37, $8.00 "Are These My Lions" is the epic poem of Daniel Levenson`s stay in Israel during the flare up in hostitlities with Hezbullah in 2006. "Watch[ing] for signs of war," he sees "children splash[ing] and play[ing]," an "English and Hebrew Jazz Fest," a "jogger passing," a "girl studying her cell phone," and the ubiquitous "loud Americans." At the same time "rockets are falling, holy things shuttered," a "missile hits a tank, vibrations echo out concentric rings of grief." "Surely," Levenson exclaims, "the old city laments the destruction." There is a soothing sweetness in the flow of the language which gently leads the reader from stanza to stanza following the footsteps of Daniel Levenson`s journey. In a place where God is on everybody`s side, life can be a Kafkaesque juxtaposition of transparent normalcy against the frightening scenes of fire and mass destruction. Yet describing commonplace set against the bizarre, the words flow with the elegant masterly of a craftsman of poetry. Although Daniel speaks of his departure with the Jerusalem hills ablaze in terms of a cloudy sentimentality, perhaps his experiences in Israel may have revealed "America" however minor in spiritual devotion remains the true "miracle."
Geoff Jackson: The Grey Hour
9. At Lamplight
Bob Djurdjevic: Freudian Slip: DEMONcracy Australia's biggest selling daily newspaper Hillary thanks God June 06, 2007 12:00am DEMONCRATIC presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said yesterday she probably couldn't have got through her marital troubles without her faith in God.
Geoff Jackson: Light of Day 11. Sun Boat
Scudding on sun`s rays DR James Davies Lord Woodbury: July Mentorial: In Praise of Pure Nothingness Greetings Dean, I take note of the most acerbic comments of Bob Dj and the Dean on previous Mentorial. While I acknowledge that I long mis -attributed to the Dean the quote "whenever two or more Anglicans meet there's a fifth," I believe I correctly quoted the Dean for the comment "The Episcopal Church is a social club, not a religion." I had taken that as praise for the longest time, but now upon reading the Dean's sharp reproof, I'm not so sure. I find it interesting in that vein that the Evangelical Christians call the Mormons "nuts." If one group of nuts starts quibbling with the other perhaps the coalition between the nuts ingeniously forged by Our Leader under the umbrella of the Bush presidency with other elements of the Bush constituency, the have-Mores and the Neo-Cons will start to shatter. In the short run this may help the Democratic cause; in the long run I would hope it favors the cause of a measure of rationality. Thus I do believe it important that room be preserved for the voice of moderation between extremes. And if the Episcopal Church has no coherent religious doctrine, and, indeed, requires no belief in God either as a person or as a concept, would the Dean replace it with the fanaticism of doctrinaire fundamentalism and all the accompanying excesses? I do appreciate some of the Dean's observations on Alexander Hamilton's rescuing of Anglicanism from ignominy as a matter of statecraft. I suppose I should be cheered by the Dean's prediction that the Aseatic hoards would likely leave Anglicanism unharmed. Anglicanism says the Dean is too mellow to pose any threat to Khanate overlords whom the Dean suggests might be the likely successors. With no doctrine, no missionary zeal, no spirituality, and scant members, Anglicanism would be as harmless as a marionette show. I was surprised that the Dean took no interest in the travails of the Episcopal Church in America. I thank the Dean for noting that a local Church in his environs has changed its name from Protestant Episcopal to Episcopal-Anglican. Did the Dean really say of the divide in the Episcopal Church that nothing from nothing is nothing? Yet I say, Dean, there is a moral force Anglo-America can bring upon the World and I deem your remarks most unhelpful. You say that "the US has much moral force behind it: Guantanamo, Eastern European Gulags, Abu Grave and now not to discriminate against its own, Walter Reed." Why must you always look on the bleak side of things? I do not yet see the general upsurge toward another crowning US victory in Iraq and most of the safely retired Generals merely take potshots at General Petraeus' strategies of expanding the range of US control there. I am confident that when General Petraeus report to Congress comes it will be one of smashing victories. I do not understand you when you say "A Bush victory would prove more devastating in the long run than a Bush defeat in Iraq as it might encourage the US to provoke further wars with inadequate manpower, faulty equipment and unclear battle plans. A belief in a moral force alone can only win battles if you can persuade your enemy (a) such a thing exists and (b) you are the moral force. Apparently Dean the term "moral force" is defined very differently by Dean and Mentor. I regret to say that until I read the same in Fullosia Press, I had not heard of Prince Harry's disappointment over the British Army's refusal to post him to Iraq. I had believed the good Prince would be posted to Iraq but placed in a secure area. I decline to join in the Society's wild speculation either that there is no such thing or that placing Prince Harry in a combat zone would upstage President Bush who by account left the best part of the Repulican Party in a puddle on the floor of a Florida Classroom. I must severely upbraid the Dean for most intemperate remarks. On that note, Dean, I must bid you a most cheery cheerio,
Cheerio, Dean, Cheerio. Geoff Jackson : Insomnia 20. A Sleepless Dream
Lost night Michael Levy : New Inspirational Book Details For Humanity.
The Inspiring Story of Little Goody Two Shoes Who from a state of rags and care, The story highlights her charitable activities, which results in her being carried from her humble station in life and into a lady of means. The narration in the story by Merry Love, points out the plight of the poor and downtrodden, while fighting the greed and avarice of deceitful men. To quote one line: Ah! my dear reader, we brag of liberty, and boast of our laws; but the blessings of the one, and the protection of the other, seldom fall to the lot of the poor; and especially when a rich man is their adversary.The narrator points out not too much as changed in the past two hundred and forty years. If anything the greed has been magnified while the poor are still poor and downtrodden. Many exciting adventures befall Goody Two Shoes and her bother Tom. Levy's inspirational style of writing fits like a hand in a glove with the original unknown authors text. The story is sure to delight children of all ages, as it has past generations...It is a highly spiritual experience. The book devotedly points out that everyone who calls themselves a human being has a choice to follow Goody Two Shoe's pathway to happiness and wisdom ... The book has been rewritten and renewed for the benefit of all humanity no matter what creed or color. Book Details: Raud Kennedy : Junk Food
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